Preparing for hurricane season brings a laundry list of to-do items to ensure you and your family are safe before, during and after the storm. Often times, we remember to fill our gas tanks and stock up on water, non-perishable food and generators; however, especially in our mobile, on-the-go world, we forget to have an alternative plan to watch TV.
While your mobile phone can provide updates on the storm, your phone's battery is valuable to be able to contact family and friends or first responders in an emergency.
The best way to prepare for a hurricane so that you can still watch TV, should the video or satellite signal be knocked out, is to invest in an HD TV antenna. This antenna allows you to receive approximately 50 channels in HD, including local broadcast stations, over the air waves. The latest designs for HD TV antennas are sleek and inconspicuous.
If you lose power and don’t have a backup generator, then you will need to have a digital ready TV that can be run on batteries (make sure you have fresh set in your hurricane preparedness kit). If your video or satellite signal fails and you still have power, you can watch TV by disconnecting the cable from the back of the TV set and then hooking up the HD TV antenna to the back of the TV. The best thing to have during a power outage is a battery operated digital ready TV set with an external antenna. Once you have an external antenna, don't forget to go to the menu on your TV and choose "external antenna" and scan for the channels. When your video and satellite signal returns, be sure to go back to the menu on your TV and choose "cable" and scan your TV once again.
It's important to note that with a digital signal, it's "all or nothing" meaning if the digital transmission signal is weak, there’s no such thing as a bad picture (like with analog signal). With a weak digital signal, you won’t get any type of sound or picture, so it’s best to spend a bit more on a good quality antenna.